After perusing my blog the other day, my coworker asked where my bikini photo was. When I told him that I didn’t have one, he was outraged. Everyone has to have an obligatory picture of themselves on their blog, he told me. Then he offered to draw me in a bikini for my blog. So, here it is:

The artwork is quite impressive, even if the likeness is not quite there. So, thanks to Peter for helping me fulfill my mandatory bikini shot.

What first caught my attention about this picture was the misspelled English. Before is definitely misspelled. But then, when I took a closer look at the before and after pictures in question, I realized that I couldn’t figure out what kind of service was being advertised. According to the pictures, this store helps you transform yourself from a creepy alien-like girl into an even creepier alien-like girl. And, as you can see from the prices below the picture, it costs a lot of money to get this creepy girl look- about $160. Who would seriously pay that kind of money based on those pictures? Oh, Japan…

I like teru teru bozu, and I liked Jenny’s explanation of them, so enjoy the read!

While at work today I noticed the decorations in the office had changed from yesterday. My first thoughts were, "Why are there little ghosts up? It's WAY too early for Halloween. I thought they were putting up summer decorations…" and then I remembered it was some kind of Japanese good-luck charm to keep rain away. One of my kid students had explained it to me last year through lots of gestures and some English, so I got the basic idea that you … Read More

Next to ECC is a place called Asunal Plaza. It’s basically a small outdoor shopping complex, and features a small stage. Usually there’s some kind of performance going on every Saturday when I finish up work. I’ve seen dance competitions featuring eight-year old girls dressed as hip hop skanks, comedy sketches, and a numerous amount of singers/piano players belting out tunes. Mostly, it’s just low-key, nothing to really draw a huge crowd.

Well, recently, I could barely make it into Asunal because of the huge crowd of teenage girls filling the courtyard area. I was in shock, so I craned my head over the crowd and looked to the stage. And lo and behold, I feasted my eyes on a boy band performing. They were singing and dancing their hearts out and the girls loved them. Girls were screaming their names, seriously.But I’m not quite sure why the girls loved them so much. When I got a better look, I realized that they were all wearing the same outfit- a shiny, white sleeveless tracksuit trimmed with a thick row of fluorescent blue sequins. As a girl, I would’ve been embarrassed to be seen wearing such an outfit, even in my cheerleading days.

I made my way up to the second floor and found that both the second and third floors were as jam-packed as the first. I found this little opening on the side and, of course, proceeded to whip out my phone to snap some shots of the crowd. Forget the boys performing, I was enamored with the Japanese reaction to these guys. And for a moment, I was transported back to my own teenage days, when I would’ve jumped at the chance to see my favorite boy band perform and probably would’ve been screaming just like those girls. Of course, American boy band singers wouldn’t have been caught dead in those outfits, but when in Japan…

And I will add that taking photos at the concert was strictly prohibited, and a security guard approached the girl next to me and made her put away her camera. So, I sneakily stuck my phone back in my pocket and made a quick exit into the nearest store.